The purpose of this column is to make the reader aware of current events in politics and media and to explain the facts from both sides to get a real picture of the argument instead of having message skewed through mainstream media. This is one man trying to relate to college students the hot issues of the world so as to make the information for accessible. The column will present an opinion but will do the it’s best to only use opinions supported by lines of evidence.
Patrick Olds
– Opinions Editor –
Whistleblowers have a tremendously positive effect as government watchdogs. Julian Assange is one whistleblower that most should not appreciate.
Assange is the founder of the website WikiLeaks. This site was created for the purpose of whistle blowing on governments by reportedly hacking and using sources within the military, sometimes by illegal means. The website’s main server is housed in Sweden which holds very strong protective rights for people like Mr. Assange.
Until recently, WikiLeaks had one major leak over the summer about interactions of soldiers and intelligence officials concerning the Afghanistan war. Gravely damaging to our soldiers’ efforts, this leak of some 11,000 documents only began by making the interactions of Afghanis that were helping NATO’s cause public. Afghanis may now be targeted by the Taliban network if they haven’t already been.
The United States raced to brace for the impact but deafening damage has now been done.
Information about the United States intelligence is now on a public platform for the world to view. These documents were not classified as “top secret” but only “secret” files. If the leak were about one specific occurrence, event or world relationship, then the fire could be controlled. These leaks span frayed major relationships with Russia and China to crucial Middle Eastern countries. It is all coming out at once.
According to the New York Times, some of the more important leaks include:
The discovery that the United States secretly tried to remove uranium from Pakistan could have major negative impact on the Pakistani people trust in the U.S.
United States administration has tried to bribe smaller foreign governments to take prisoners from Guantanamo Bay through rendition.
Amid suspicions of corruption, a top Afghanistan official reportedly took more than $50 million in cash out of the country.
A Chinese spy for the United States reported a coordinated cyber attack carried out by the Chinese government against Google and the United States.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia does not seem to trust the presidents of Iraq or Pakistan.
There is information that leads the United States to believe that Russia and Italy are growing very close, even going as far as saying that the president of Italy is Putin’s mouthpiece into the European Union.
It should be obvious why this information is terribly damaging to the efforts of the United States when a country is fighting a war, building trade and overall international relations. WikiLeaks is irresponsible and does not act as a whistleblower. They act as spies that have obtained a large amount of secret information and broadcast it to the world.
As the worldly renowned newspaper Spiegel Online International said, “Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information – data that can help paint a picture of the foundation upon which U.S. foreign policy is built. Never before has the trust America’s partners have in the country been as badly shaken. Now, their own personal views and policy recommendations have been made public – as have America’s true views of them.”
